It is the season of gourds and pumpkins. One of the simplest and readily available in Sydney the bottle gourd ( calabash) takes it places in the veggie basket every single time. This time instead of all the stirfries and stews I wanted to make a simple recipe which the gourds too centre stage and get appreciated. There is no better way than a simple soup. “Shorba” is a Persian influenced Indian style soup or light stew. This is a perfect gourd soup post-Diwali season where many look for ways to reduce on the festive tuck in. The best way to bring back the body to regularity is to give it time to Detox.
What is detox?
The word detox often throws up on the “google god,” synonymous to weight loss. To drive in the point straight, detox or detoxification is a process of neutralizing and removal of any poisonous (or unwanted ) materials that have entered our body. The liver in our body is the predominant detox mechanism. The bile helps to clear all the fatty residues, chemical intakes, medicinal wastes that persist. This is a slow process in the liver.
As our daily intake and accumulation of these materials pile up the body begins to slow down and you will experience lower energy levels. Giving the body the necessary time to get back on track is the best way to bring in efficient detox. It is as important as cleaning our teeth.
Aiding the detox process
Following a festival tuck in…we, all feel a bit slow down. Yes, detox is the word here. Since the liver is not able to handle the load of materials piled in… It slows down the body. Helping this process to run smoothly is not by punishing rituals. Rather opt for simple fat-free nourishing good. Use beets, garlic, gentle fermented foods, cruciferous vegetables, turmeric, fresh fruit especially citrus are highly useful when you plan a detox. Fat-free soups sans any soup cube, reduction in refined sugar further aid the process.
My usual go to after a festival is to slow down with soups and juices with light grains and small meals. This has actually aided the weight maintenance in a big way
Among the favourite detox recipes from here are
Bottle gourd in soup
This is a fairly easy recipe with the sweetness of the red capsicum and the soft cooked bottle gourd. The blend forms a creamy combo with a pale peach colour which looks equally appetizing. A touch of roasted cumin powder and fennel add a warmth to the dish removing the drab ground up vegetable feel. the recipe is not only simple but has a perfect silky mouthfeel. Tell me how you feel as you make this recipe and feel treated like you have slogged all day in the kitchen.
Guess this quick one is worth the just 49 calories it gives per serving( check nutritional info in the side)
Here is a collection of tasty soups on the blog
Check here for the recipe –Soups
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- Soup E-Jo with vegan bechamel
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- Winter melon soup
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- Tomato sup bihun
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- indo chinese style hot and sour soup
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- Arugam pullu
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- Honey melon Champagne soup
The recipe is added to #Soupytales from the Healthy Wellthy kitchens. These bloggers have some good soups up their sleeve. Check it out here.
Lauki shorba detox bottle gourd soup
Ingredients
for the soup
- 2 cups Bottle gourd peeled and cut in chunks
- 1 cup red bell pepper (capsicum) diced
- 1/4 cup green bell pepper (optional)
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups drinking water
- 1 inch fresh ginger root peeled and crushed
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 1/4 tsp fennel seed (optional)
to serve
- 1 tsp olive oil salad grade
- 1 pinch roasted cumin powder
- salt to taste
- black pepper powder as needed
- Whole meal bread toasted and buttered on the side
Instructions
- Into a soup pot, add two cups of water, 2 cups of stock, the chopped veggies, crushed ginger, garlic and fennel seeds.
- Cover and bring to a boil.
- Then simmer till the vegetables are cooked soft, about 10 minutes.
- Allow it to cool a bit and remove the ginger
- Blend the boiled veggies, fennel and garlic and add it back to the soup liquid
- Bring it back to a boil and the soup is ready to serve.
- To serve, laddle up the soup and drizzle a bit of olive oil. Add a touch of Roasted cumin powder, Top with salt and pepper as desired. Serve hot with some butter toasted crusty bread or crutons.
Notes
You can vary the spices added in the soup. Omit the garlic if you like a free version. Add in some cheese if you are not looking for a detox to add the extra depth of flavour.
Nutrition
Calories: 42kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0.2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 124mgPotassium: 133mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Oh, the soup looks so good! Can’t imagine bottlegourd soup can look this beautiful!
haha true, I also hated the drab colour the first time i made it… so then experimented
Super soup, whenever I make bottle gourd soup the colour is not nice. Like your recipe as you’ve added red pepper and also adding fennel seeds is awesome as it definitely would make the soup more tasty.
The red pepper gives such a lovely colour and the fennel fragrance is amazing
OMG !!!! This is such an interesting share for theme Seema …bottle gourd soup looks so tempting 🙂
Thanks Sasmita
Wow… Love the colour and texture of the lauki soup. Fabulous share👍
The red pepper adds this mild orange colour. Glad you like it
[…] Manchow Soup by Jayshree| Vegan Wonton Soup by Geetanjali| Creamy Cauliflower Soup by Rosy| Bottlegourd Soup by Seema| Thukpa by […]
Thanks for the Link up Priya
I would love to grab that bowl of soup, it looks so good. Love that click Seema
Thank you Jaya. so glad you like it
What an interesting recipe!! The Honey melon Champagne soup also sounds really tasty, especially for the Summer!
-Madi
http://everydaywithmadirae.com/
So glad you like these recipes.